Feinstein, Wahl, Freedman dominate USBWA best writing contest

John Feinstein of the Washington Post took a first place and two seconds, Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated finished first and second and Lew Freedman of Basketball captured first- and fourth-place awards in the U.S. Basketball Writers Association best writing contest.

Robbi Pickeral of the Raleigh News & Observer and Bud Withers of the Seattle Times also won individual categories.

Feinstein took first in spot news/game story for a piece on American University's first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 41 years. Feinstein finished second in moderate- length features and column writing.

Wahl won in magazine-length feature writing for a story about the popularity of the dribble-drive offense. Wahl also took second in enterprise/series reporting.

Freedman won for a column about the recollections of former Loyola (Ill.) players on their forgotten long-ignored barrier-breaking NCAA championship and finished fourth in game story/spot news reporting.

Pickeral won in enterprise/series reporting for a profile on North Carolina coach Roy Williams.

Withers won for moderate-length feature about Jeremy Pargo's journey from south Chicago to Gonzaga.

Other second-place finishers included Jeff Fox of CollegeHoopsNet.com (magazine-length features) and Kellis Robinett of the Idaho State Journal (spot news/game story).

Finishing third: Ken Davis of nbcsports.com (enterprise/series); Gordie Jones of The Morning Call (magazine-length); Rob Schultz of the Madison Capital Times (moderate-length); David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News (columns); and Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle (spot news/game story).

Other fourth-place finishers: Jack Styczynski, Basketball Times (enterprise/series); J. Brady McCullough, Kansas City Star (magazine-length features); Marty Dobrow of the Boston Globe (medium-length features); and Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal (columns).

Fifth-place finishers: Ian Rapoport, Birmingham News (enterprise/series); Mike Sorensen, Deseret Morning News (magazine-length); Bryan Burwell, St. Louis Post Dispatch (medium-length); Gary Parish, cbssports.com (columns); and Pete Thamel of The New York Times (spot news).